Tel Aviv bus blast injures 11

Thursday 28 December 2000 00:00 BST

Click to followThe Independent Online

An explosion on a bus on a main street in Tel Aviv injured at least eleven people today, police said. The blast sent black smoke billowing into the air, and people on the crowded thoroughfare scattered in panic.

An explosion on a bus on a main street in Tel Aviv injured at least eleven people today, police said. The blast sent black smoke billowing into the air, and people on the crowded thoroughfare scattered in panic.

The cause of the explosion was not yet known, although it immediately raised suspicions of a terrorist attack. In the past, bus bombings have often been staged inside Israel by Islamic militants opposed to the peace process.

The explosion came only hours after the cancellation of a planned summit by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.